#swalloween

Ooh! What a pleasant surprise!! Hallowed ween!

*ladles one unit of sopping lasaga into your candy bucket

Nepeta was conflicted. Salvation was in sight, yes- but what did she need rescue from? The resourceful kitty roll had practically dominated the surrounding region. There was no beast she had encountered that could not be hunted, slain, or eaten. All three of those things usually occurred sequentially, anyways. Isn't this what Nepeta has always wanted? A dense forest, a REAL forest with trees, and sounds, and smells, and little critters to chase around and play with all day long. She stared into the surrounding fog, lips pursed as she argued with herself. These past few weeks had been totally pawsome, indeed... but... but her palmhusk was close to dying. With no way to contact Serket or anyone else without it, Nepeta would be stuck where she was. The thought entered her mind. If there was so many new things to discover in this place, how much more was there out there? In the world? The universe? Would an apex predator really be satisfied with the same hunting grounds forever?

...Plus, Nepeta never really got to properly hang out with Serket. She was whisked away from her new friend so quickly. What about Sollicks? They had only met once, and Nepeta wanted to... continue to experiment with what they had done together. She thought of her moirail- surely Equius was getting worried sick at this point! It wouldn't be fair to him if she just disappeared like that.

No, no, Nepeta had to return home. She glanced at her phone. Eighteen percent charge. Another day or so at least.

A new scent breezed by her nose. Nepeta sniffed, looking up and then towards the source. Something was cooking! A few miles off, smoke trailed into the sky. She could make out the top of several hives. A town!

...Well, who said she had to leave right now? One last hurrah wouldn't hurt. The sun would set soon.

-

The shattering of glass pulled the sleeping Elizabeth into reality. Sitting up in her bed, wide eyes frantically darted across her bedroom, drowsy and confused but still searching for the source of the sudden noise. A cold draft chilled her loosely dressed frame, and the woman turned towards her window. It had been broken into pieces- pieces which now lay scattered all over the floor. Something had come in.

Only the dim, flickering light of a candle on her bedside table provided any chance of catching a sight of the intruder. Somewhere in that murky darkness which invaded the corners of the room, someone or something was lurking. Waiting. Silently watching. Then, Elizabeth saw it.

A tail flicked out from the darkness, quickly slithering back into the inky nothing. Large, feline eyes, the only thing now visible, stared straight at her. Silence enveloped the once empty room. Terrified, Elizabeth dare not move. Then, the wind blew once more, extinguishing her candle. She barely had time to scream as footsteps suddenly pounded towards her from the darkness, followed by an enveloping wetness.

Burp.

-

A lone Woodsman marches into the outskirts of Mortigny, shouldering a well-worn axe. He had lost track of time, working far too late into the evening! His missus was surely worried sick, the man thought to himself with a chuckle. Oh well, he was used to getting an earful from her... still, the burly man thought it would be best to take a shortcut. He turned into a short path, sandwiched between two tall buildings. This was technically private property, but no one would notice the brief trespassing this late at ni-

A window shattered above him. The Woodsman jumped, startled from the sudden sound. What the hell happened? Whose house... the Baker, right? He and his daughter lived on the second floor. Maybe they got in a fight? But no one was screaming. And... something was wrong. The Woodsman looked down at the trodden path. No glass had fallen from above. Whatever broke that window came from the outside. Then, he heard it. A woman's shill scream quickly being muffled. The lumberjack tightened his grip on his axe, and ran towards the front of the house.

The once-locked entrance easily gave way to the Woodsman's powerful kick, splintered wood crumpling inwards. He stepped into the bakery- empty. The wonderful smell of well-worked dough filled the air. The Baker must have been finishing up for the night, when whoever else was in the building attacked. Almost on cue, a man's cry rang out. Then, nothing. Just like his daughter. The Woodsman stepped into the room, quickly making his way towards the stairs behind the counter. Dust shook from the steps as he stomped upwards, entering a sparsely-decorated hallway. The door at the end hung ajar... the Woodsman could hear something shifting inside. He could feel the fear of the unknown crawling on his back. He took a deep breath, and moved forward into the doorway. The room was pitch black, save for the few rays of moonlight trickling through the broken window. Those small slivers of light betrayed the figure, directly in front of the Woodsman.

He dropped his axe. A massive, writing ball of pale grey flesh lay in the center of the room, pulsing up and down from where it sat. The light reflective off it the surface revealed... the impression of a hand, pushing out from inside the bulbous lump of meat. Then, a face. Cries rang out from within, muffled by a thick layer of skin and meat. The Woodsman, unable to look away, slowly approached the eldritch monstrosity. His heart pounded, and his mind screamed for him to turn around and leave while he still could, but... that damn curiosity got the best of the poor Woodsman. How did this happen? What even happened? He lay a hand on taut surface of the... is that... a belly button...?

-

The town of Mortigny, now with a slightly smaller population, slowly disappeared behind the encroaching line of trees. Nepeta waddled along, humming a merry tune. What a night! A delicious dinner, and a meal for the trip home? Maybe the people here were more generous than the roving bands of bandits she had encountered in the past. The feline troll swiped a small roll from her basket of pastries, absentmindedly munching on it as she begun the trek towards the fog wall. Her stomach's occupants were making it a bit difficult, but they had started to calm down. That, or her grossly distended tummy finally got to work on them. She gave the swollen surface a tender pat, forcing up a little "byurp!" A return to normal, honestly. Nepeta hoped her tummy would be a bit flatter before meeting Serket again... but at the moment, there was nothing to do about it.